The Lost Years
by simone.26.94
Summary: How did Frank and Alice spend their last few years before the end of the war? Well, very much the same as they spent the many years preceding the war. They fought for what they believed in, they loved each other, and most importantly they very often put their lives on hold for when the war was over. Multi-chapter, Fralice, Firstwar. Enjoy.
1. Prologue

The Lost Years: Prolouge

The curse shook both of them. Alice's screams we're turning into Frank's, and then silence, as they fell into one another's arms and to the ground. Alice's eyes traced Frank's features, committing them to memory.  
"Frank." she gasped out before yet another curse hit the pair.

With shaking hands Frank brought Alice close and ran his fingers over her face, also committing it to memory.  
"I know Al." He gasped, pulling her closer as he heard another shriek of furious laughter.

The curse hit the pair from two directions. With their bodies convulsing together they held one another close. With tears forming in each of their eyes, they comforted each other through the worst of it. After a few moments of silence Alice looked up into Frank's eyes.  
"You and me," She mouthed with a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.  
"Until the very end," Frank finished, with the last smile that would ever grace his features.


	2. Chapter 1

The pair ran up the rugged mountain side, sending curses over their shoulders at the pair of mountain trolls that were pursuing them. Alice felt herself suddenly pulled to the ground and turned to Frank, sending him a glare.

"What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" She asked in a low tone. Shaking his head Frank pulled her closer as a boulder flew over their heads and landed where they would have been had they continued running.  
"Saving our lives Al," he responded with a grin. Rolling her eyes Alice, stood and pulled him up with her.  
"Stupid." She murmured as she turned to move into an inlet of trees. Frank followed her glancing back down the mountainside.  
"Al, where are you going?" We should be going up." Alice sighed and pulled him into the trees.  
"These are trolls. We'll be fine; Merlin knows they are not the brightest of creatures." Pausing she looked him over to check for injuries. "They have trolls." She said glancing down at the ground, "Nobody is ready for this Frank." She anxiously ran her fingers through her short hair.  
"I know, but we'll become ready. We always do." Fran reassured her quietly, Alice squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.  
"We're always on the defensive though." Frank nodded and took her hand.  
"We have got to keep going," He spoke over the roar of the nearby trolls. Together the pair continued to move up the mountain, hoping to distract the trolls long enough for the others to finish their jobs at the base of the mountain.

As they ran the sounds of the trolls grew farther behind them.  
"We should slow down Al," Frank murmured as he reached his hand out to touch her arm. She glanced at him and he tapped his nose, looking towards some boulders to the left of them. Nodding, Alice paused and pulled out her wand. Grabbing two small rocks from near her feet, she transfigured them into small decoys. After sending them down the hill, to continue distracting the trolls, she turned to her left and nodded.  
"You go high, I'll stay low," Frank said, his voice low enough that if Alice hadn't already known what to do, the plan would have fallen apart.

Alice carefully scaled the canopy in the trees nearest to them. Looking down to where Frank's eyes were following her carefully, she smiled, before turning back to glance back down to the boulders. There was a group of three Death Eaters, in full regalia, standing in the boulders below. She grinned- there were only three, and they had the element of surprise- this was about to be one of their easier attacks. She silently held up three fingers, and glanced back to where Frank was standing. HE nodded and they both continued on their way.

Alice quietly landed behind the group of Death Eaters. She quickly stunned one of the members of the group as Frank stepped out from between the boulders, taking the second off guard. Alice smiled as the third looked between her and her husband.

Stepping around the stunned bodies, she moved towards the third man, binding his hands together with a quick spell. Shaking her head she looked at Frank, "Can you take the other two?" He nodded and pressed his lips to her forehead as he walked past.  
"I've got them. Be safe getting this one back," Alice nodded and the pair turned.

Frank watched the spot they had disapperated from for another moment, before grabbing hold of the other two bodies and turning. When he landed at the Ministry, Frank set down the two still stunned Death Eaters and took his wife by the hand, spinning her around and pulling her flush against him for a moment, holding her tight. Alice smiled into Frank's chest and gave him a quick squeeze, stepping back as she heard Moody's grumble.

She smiled at the old man before explaining what they had seen. He nodded and checked the left arms of all who had been brought back with them.  
"Send them into the interrogation room, and we'll handle them." He instructed before turning towards his office. "And then I want the two of you in my office."

Frank followed Alice into the small office in the back of the aurory. Moody motioned to the chairs across the desk from him and the pair sat.  
"What happened? Did Dearborn, Fenwick and the Prewetts get the job done?" He asked in an almost defeated tone. Alice glanced at Frank before she began.

"Everything was going well sir- Benjy had set the tracker up and we almost had them. Fabian and Gideon were on the trace, and Cardoc was setting up interference. Frank and I were with him." She paused and looked at Frank chewing on her lip. He nodded and took up the story.

"Well, we were by the mountains in Dunlaugarhie with Caradoc, setting up interference like Alice said, and well, we were in a valley see, and a pair of mountain trolls came down the mountain to our back. It almost messed everything up, and Alice and I had to distract them. So we pulled them away from where Caradoc was setting up," He looked to Alice fore conformation, and she nodded for him to continue. "Al and I went up the mountain to keep the trolls away from everything that was going on." Frank took a breath and squeezed Alice's hand in his own.

"We got a ways up the mountain; transfigured two stones into decoys, they continued up the hill, and we doubled back to check on Caradoc. That is when Frank noticed the group out there." She turned to the man next to her. "How did you do that? They were behind those boulders…"

Frank ran his free hand through his dark hair. "I just had a feeling; there might have been shadows out of place. But I wasn't sure until you went up into the trees," Alice nodded and turned back to Moody, continuing the story.  
"Like he said, I climbed across the trees to where the group was, I stunned one, Frank got the other. And the third, we just bound his hands and brought him back." The room was quiet for a moment and Alice glanced at Frank, he appeared lost in thought.

"They're not anyone important. That was too easy." The pair looked at Moody who nodded. "What happened?" Moody stood and put sound charms up around the door. Alice looked at Frank worried.

* * *

Stuff I forgot to add to the prologue:

Thank you for reading this! It means a whole bunch to me.  
I would also like to thank my beta reader prettylittleliar12, who was a big help with the punctuation and such things.

Reviews are always appreciated.

Again, thank you so much for reading.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Alastor sat across his desk from the pair.  
"After the pair of you left," he pointed towards the two of them, as they nodded. "A group of Death Eaters came down the mountain side, more organized that the three the two of you got, and Caradoc wasn't ready for anything of that nature. It was too soon. Fenwick came a few moments later. But not soon enough." Alice gasped and Frank squeezed her hand. He glanced at her, wishing they weren't at work, wishing he could pull her close.  
"Is he- is he alright?" She asked in a quiet, broken voice. Frank moved his chair closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  
"He's been sent to Mungo's, cracked ribs but no worse off." Alice and Frank both let out breaths they hadn't known they were holding.  
"Why wasn't Fenwick there soon enough?" Frank asked.  
"I'm getting to it" Moody's voice grew dangerously low. Frank's arm lowered on Alice's back and Alice sat up straighter. In Alastor's mind Frank and Alice were aurors first, and that was all. He had not approved of their engagement and had discouraged their relationship even during training. Glaring at the wall behind the couple, he continued.  
"They destroyed everything. There was a crater in the ground the size of this office." Alastor paused allowing that to sink in.  
Frank closed his eyes for a moments, squeezing Alice's side.  
"Who was it that we got then? He asked quietly looking at Moody.

The three Death Eaters had been revived and sat in chairs. Alice and Frank stood on the other side of a table, staring them down.  
"Why weren't you three with the rest of your group?" Alice asked quietly sitting across from them. The man named Selwynn laughed gruffly  
"If you think we're going to tell you, sweet thing, you've got another thing coming. " Karkaroff laughed along with him before turning to look at Frank.  
"Get your partner here to start taking off her clothes and I'll start talking." His voice was low and he eyed Alice for the second time. Frank leaned across the table, "If you look at my wife like that again, they won't even find the pieces of you." He kept his voice low, and stepped back before continuing. "No one is going to care if the three of you go to the dementors, those marks on your arms are warrant enough to send you to them for life." He paused and looked to each man in turn. "However, if you give us names that end in an arrest your sentence may be lowered.  
" With that Alice stood and linked hands with Frank.  
"Think it over, we'll be back in the morning." The pair turned and stepped out of the room. Frank glanced around to see who was still in the office, his eyes found the young trainee James Potter.  
"Potter, take those three down to holding" His voice was worn and sounded ruder than he'd meant to. Sending the boy a smile he turned to Alice, "What do you say to going to visit Caradoc, and then going home?" He asked as he pulled her in closer. Pressing his lips to the top of her head; she nodded against his chest and together they turned, apparating to St. Mungos.

Sitting next to Caradoc's bed Alice smiled and began apologizing profusely.  
"I am so sorry, if we hadn't run off with those trolls we could have been there, we could have stopped this." She said gesturing over his chest, the man laughed and grabbed Alice's hand.  
"If you two had been there, Mungo's would have two more beds filled."  
"Oh sweetie, don't say that." Alice laughed lightly and ran a hand along his forehead. Standing, Alice checked Frank's watch and glanced over at him yawning. "It's getting late, and we've got a busy day tomorrow." Smiling at Caradoc she continued. "You'll be on your feet soon enough." He nodded and she turned back to Frank. "I'll see you at him." He nodded and grinned at her, mouthing "Soon." Smiling, she stepped out the door and headed towards the apparition point.

Turning back towards Frank, Caradoc sat up slightly in his bed. "How you managed to get a girl like that Longbottom, I'll never understand." Frank let out a low laugh and glanced at the man on the bed.  
"I didn't get her, she chose me." A small smile formed on his lips and he shook his head. "Is there anything you didn't tell us, anything about what happened?" Caradoc thought for a moment before shaking his head.  
"No, like I said. You two left and a group of twenty or so came down the far hill. They started sending curses before I even knew that they were there. I was thrown by something; they put a crater in the ground. And then Fenwick showed up with the Prewett brothers." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you any more than that." Frank sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  
"It's alright, I guess we'll just have to hope that the three we got know something about what is going on. Although they seem like they wouldn't know all that much." Closing his eyes he was quiet for a moment before looking up at Caradoc. "Well, like Alice said, tomorrow is going to be a mess. I should probably get back to the house." He stood and shook Caradoc's hand. "You feel better alright?"  
"Get home to your wife Longbottom." Caradoc said with a smile, "I'll be fine." Frank grinned down at him and turned towards the door.

Frank entered their home quietly, not wanting to wake Alice if she was already asleep. He slowly made his way through the house, turning off the lights as he went by. Smiling when he reached their bedroom, he saw the small form of Alice curled under the covers. Standing in the door way he watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest. He loved moments like this, when it was easy to forget about the world around them. Pulling off his shirt and kicking off his shoes, he crawled into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her he pulled her into his chest. She rolled over and pressed a tired kiss to his skin. "Goodnight Frank." She murmured against him, her voice still quiet and tired. "Goodnight Alice" He whispered into her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

* * *

A huge shout out to my beta, mostly for putting up with my spelling for this chapter in particular. It was a long night.

I hope you're all enjoying this, and reviews are like cookies.

So keep them coming.

Thank you for reading!


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